The Usos and the New Day, New Day and Riddle VS The Bloodline
The Bloodline came down to the ring before they were interrupted by the New Day. The promo exchange from the Usos and the New Day was great. The New Day talked about how hard they have worked to get here whilst the Usos talked about how much pressure they have been under due to their family. After the New Day talked about how the record means everything to them and Jimmy Uso took the mick out of Xavier Woods for no longer being a king, Jey Uso’s said a line that will be forever rememberable. The right-hand man said that KofiMania would never have happened if it wasn’t for the Usos forfeiting their matchup. I’m going to remember this for a while. Matt Riddle then came out and after attempting to do some comedy, Riddle teamed up with the New Day to take on the Usos and Solo Sikoa. This match was solid, all six men are great in the ring and my biggest takeaway was how the New Day looked on top of the Usos but they couldn’t end up beating them because of Solo Sikoa. The enforcer of the Bloodline was on top every time he was in the ring and in the end, he got the win by hitting the Spinning Solo onto Riddle. Overall, this was all really good and I’m really looking forward to the Usos V New Day match on Friday.
Grade: A for the promo segment, B for the match
Baron Corbin VS Cedric Alexander, The OC have a solution for Rhea Ripley
After JBL came out and trash talked the Philadelphia Phillies World Series loss, Baron Corbin came out and took on Cedric Alexander. This match was alright; both men are good in-ring workers, but this was almost a squash match. What I would say is Baron Corbin’s End of Days was brilliant. This was fine.
Grade: C-
Seth Rollins came down to the ring for his open challenge. His open challenge was accepted by the Judgement Day’s Finn Balor who talked about how he wants to get some revenge for Seth Rollins costing himself championship gold in the past. The OC then came down and Seth Rollins made sure to get out of there. All of a sudden, someone in a hoodie attacked Rhea Ripley. She took her hood off to reveal herself as the returning Mia Yim. The Judgement Day were then layed out and we got to see the OC and Mia Yim celebrate in the ring. I’m happy to see Mia Yim back, she never got a fair shot when she was Reckoning.
Grade: B
Otis VS Elias, Raw Women’s Division, Austin Theory VS Shelton Benjamin
Seth Freakin Rollins told Cathy Kelley that he will still hold his open challenge later on tonight. Otis then came out to take on Elias. The match was 50/50 for me. It made Otis look genuinely great whilst it made Elias look pretty rubbish. I like Otis though o I’m glad he got the win that he deserves.
Grade: C-
The Judgement Day cut a backstage promo where they were clearly upset at the fact the OC had brought in Mia Yim. The only one who didn’t seem to care was Rhea Ripley which makes sense. After the interview, Ripley happened to walk into Bianca Belair. This was a nice tease of what’s potentially going to come. The current Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair then came down to the ring with Alexa Bliss and Asuka. After Belair talked about how things with Damage Control clearly aren’t over, the Women’s Tag champs and the Role Model Bayley came down to the ring. After Iyo Sky and Asuka berated one another in Japanese, Belair challenged Damage CTRL to a WARGAMES match! Nikki Cross then attacked Belair from behind to seemingly align herself with the heels. I’m intrigued to see which other competitors join this match. We then saw a confrontation from earlier on in the night between Austin Theory and Shelton Benjamin and this set up a match. This was another pretty short match that was really done to give Austin Theory a victory. It was nice to see Shelton Benjamin, he’s a solid talent.
Grade: B for the women, C for the match
The Miz VS Johnny Gargano, Dana Brooke VS Nikki Cross
The Miz came down to the ring and he talked about how everything that Johnny Gargano said last week was a lie. He also said that he had dinner with a Hollywood producer about potentially making a movie about all of this. Johnny Gargano then came out and said that the “Hollywood producer” was actually a private investigator. Gargano then said that he had brought a universal remote from home and it happens to work on the titantron. This guy's the best! Gargano then played this and it revealed the Miz telling the investigator that him being attacked by Dexter Lumis was all part of a plan. This then led into a match that was pretty good. Gargano pulled out his best moves whilst Miz showcased why he is an underappreciated talent. In the end, in a quite genius move, the Miz acted like he was being pulled under the ring apron and when he came out, he had a weapon in his hand. He then asked the referee to check under the ring before he wacked Johnny Wrestling with said weapon to get the win. Not only was it a good win, it was a smart win. It was so smart I wasn’t even annoyed about Gargano losing. After the match, Dexter Lumis attacked the Miz with a chair before he was chased off by security. Overall, all of this was great.
Grade: B+
Dakota Kai was hyping Nikki Cross up backstage before her match with Dana Brooke for the 24/7 title. The match was ok, Cross pretty much squashed Brooke and won herself the 24/7 title. What I will say is her finisher is a little bit like Elias’. That’s ok because Elias’ finisher is really good. After the match, Bayley put the belt onto Cross who didn’t really pay much attention. In a segment just a few minutes later, Nikki Cross dumped the 24/7 title in the bin. Funnily enough, she missed the bin and it made a horrible noise as it connected with the floor. Either way, I’m glad that that title is gone.
Grade: C-
Seth Rollins’ United States Open Challenge
Seth “Freakin” Rollins did his second entrance of the night before he talked about this month being the ten-year anniversary of Seth Rollins in WWE. The way he spoke felt genuine. He then said that he is excited to find out who was about to answer his open challenge before Mustafa Ali came up on the titantron. I was really excited about this but all of a sudden, he got destroyed off screen by none other than Bobby Lashley. Lashley talked about how he wants his United States Championship back before Ali was back in shot. This didn’t seem to bother Lashley as he flew him into a box. This looked awesome. Lashley then came down to the ring and he destroyed Rollins. He pretty much killed him! Lashley beat him up so much that the referees and officials had to stop him.
As Lashley walked to the back, Mr. Money in the Bank Austin Theory walked past and decided to cash-in his contract on Seth Rollins. He kept hitting big moves onto Rollins including a pedigree, but the Visionary kicked out of all of them. In the end, Austin hit the A-Town Down and it looked certain that he was going to win but at about 2.7, Bobby Lashley was back and he pulled the referee out. He then destroyed Austin Theory, arguably even worse than he did to Seth. Theory managed to just about beat the referee’s 10 count, but he walked right into a stomp from Rollins meaning the architect retained his gold. I really enjoyed this. Even though a failed cash-in is never amazing, this was a great way to make Theory lose. He was screwed out of winning the title by Bobby Lashley who is clearly a heel now. He looked amazing throughout this. As for Seth Rollins, he had an incredibly crazy night, yet he still managed to keep hold of his gold. Also, Mustafa Ali was once again robbed off an opportunity to win gold which is literally his whole gimmick. This was great and I’m really looking forward to seeing what happens next.